The pilot receiving instruction during the instructional flight in the North American AT-6F told investigators he performed a wheel landing and the airplane touched down on the runway centerline at the airport in Adrian, Michigan.
After the tailwheel touched down onto the runway, the airplane began to track left.
He began to apply increasing right rudder control input, but the plane continued to track left.
He then applied right “differential steering” and the airplane overshot the runway centerline, tracking right.
He was unable to arrest the right track with full left rudder control input and left brake.
The airplane ground looped, the left landing gear collapsed, and the left wing struck the ground, resulting in substantial damage to the left wing spar.
Post-accident examination of the airplane revealed that the tailwheel was out of rigging specifications, which would have resulted in a loss of directional control during landing.
Probable Cause: The loss of control during landing due to the out of rig condition of the tailwheel, which resulted in a ground loop and impact with the runway.
To download the final report. Click here. This will trigger a PDF download to your device.
This July 2021 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
Interesting that the NTSB report showed that this plane had had a 100hr inspection, but did not list the time since that inspection. The Pilot filing the report said that it seemed that the tail wheel lock malfunctioned with the instructor agreeing. The NTSB ” “Probable Cause: The loss of control during landing due to the out of rig condition of the tailwheel,” “.
Does this mean that the lock functioned, but that there was excessive play in the control cables back to the tail wheel? This suggests to me that the 100 hr inspection was not done correctly. But I have no experience with tail-wheel aircraft.
This leaves me with questions that I’m hoping another poster (A&P/AI) might answer.
Note to self: Check rigging specs of the tail wheel. And everything else on the flyling machine. Could save your machine and possibly your life.